taxes should originate in the congress, not the senate. i think all laws should apply to everyone or no one. and the unions, one of the main reasons unions used to get benefits to attract good people or get people to do jobs other people would not do. you would take a job maybe cleaning sewer pipes because they give you better health benefits. if everyone gets benefits from the government, there will be no reason to join a union or no one would ever want to do these jobs that no one wants to do. it is in the union's worst interest about the government give everybody health care. if you look at when i went to work in 1958, people went to unions to get benefits.

there are people in unions then han there are today. host: thank you for your point. clarence page, your houghts? guest: under company insurance for 20 years now, and i have rarely seen coverage go down in recent years and costs go up. that is why there has been pressure to do something about getting more people covered in reducing the rising cost. you think about the price for our economy, etc. obamacare is the current scapegoat. fine. i have yet to see republicans come up with a new alternative. it's the rising cost that is the crux of the problem. host: and his point about unions?

guest: sure, i'm always in favor of unions. health care is the least of their problems in this country. right now, yeah, unions have offered health care as a feature. nd there has been backlash against obamacare and some unions as a result of that. this is the kind of issue that gets worked out in negotiations. unions have a much bigger challenge facing them. host: what do you think about rush limbaugh and other right wing talk show hosts? guest: president obama said the rollout of obamacare was working. great. he said it was working fine. but he said everybody's costs were going to be reduced by

2500 a year. and what we have seen is the opposite. in many states, premiums are rising by that much. someone has to hold him to account for the fact that what he predicted is the absolute opposite of what is happening. guest: the short term or the long term? host: he said when this law was passed. it has been passed and signed. the unions were there to point out this block. the unions are one of the democratic party's strongest supporters. they warned you are going to destroy the 40-hour week. i confess i have not listened to rush limbaugh in a very long time. i do not know what tone he has been taking lately. guest: i will blame liberal talk

radio as well. host: msnbc. bill o'reilly was on the chris matthews show the other day. guest: i saw the show. again, there was the context, joking on comedy central. host: the new book though. guest: they were talking about "killing lincoln," "killing kennedy," and "killing o'reilly" ust got blurted out. guest: can you imagine what the esult would have been -- guest: guest: you're absolutely right about the civility declining, especially since the clinton-gingrich battles of the 1990's. and we did not have talked radio and twitter, etc., etc., megaphones like we've got now.

it has only gotten worse. hat can only go away by public shaming. guest: i'm absolutely for that. and all these websites have anonymous comments. just put their names on it and i hink that would be a big control to some of the vulgarity that has become part of our national discourse. host: we have a name on the tweet just sent to us. thank you for joining us. "if congress doesn't think we need a budget, do they think we need a congress? maybe we outsource budget to each state they left." ost: myra, good morning.

caller: hi, i was just listening to ms. charon, and she was saying the government is changed and she named a few things. to me, the biggest change was -- as a black woman, that hurts very deep. so, yes, civility, not only in the right wing media. i have seen it deteriorate because this black man is president. host: thank you for that comment. guest: i know that is out there, that perception. there is a perception that there is more weakness toward this

president than others, he does not get the level of respect other presidents have received. i really don't think that is the case. i really don't. i was a supporter of president bush. i had my reservations. i remember he was routinely compared to hitler. he was called stupid. he was a. the abuse that was heaped on george w. bush was quite beyond anything we have seen. i really think it is a matter of where you sit and where your sensitivities are. just so you know, from my point of view as someone who supported the previous president, there was a lot out there that was deeply offensive. guest: i think you're absolutely right, first of all. i have heard a lot of people complaining about the joker

pictures of obama. i remember there was joker epictions of george w. bush. yes, this has always been in politics. we have the first african-american president. i had almost forgotten joe wilson's july moment. that moment in congress -- you go back in history, another congressman from south carolina got up and beat with a cane a northern representative there -- i am blanking on the names. this was after the civil war. the divisions in our country now are severe. even when we talk about obamacare, we have over half the states spending medicaid out of protest with this white house. a lot of people out there who need health care are not getting it as a result of it. how things are perceived out there in the countryside, it's

very hard for me to argue against people who say this president isn't getting special abuse because he's african-american. i think that is certainly part of it. i agree with you it is not a primer moreover, but it is out there. host: kathleen parker, her piece n the washington post this morning. a monumental mistake, saying that playing politics with the greatest generation was ridiculous. guest: the memorials were closed off. the lincoln memorial, etc. people need to see this

government shutdown. it is not a visual story. you can't show closed head start. guest: sure you could. guest: all the processing of stacks and stacks of applications. the clerks aren't there. as part of the story. but seeing lincoln or jefferson out there, that is a story. we need to end the shutdown. and not take a piecemeal approach. guest: it cost more to close off the open-air memorials then it would be to leave it alone. host: governing by blackmail.

uppose president obama would old hostage any military funding for gun control. guest: both sides have to give. there has to be negotiation for both sides to make concessions. the president has said he is not negotiating. until that time comes when he egins worst rating, giving a taking, we are going to have a shutdown. guest: republicans have been holding the line, insisting on having another swipe at obamacare. the republicans are trying to put this on the regrets, as though democrats have an interest in the funding obamacare.

the public polls, i think, is showing it. host: one of the viewers saying aybe you'd be a good idea to outsource congress to china or india. good morning, charles. caller: good morning, steve. two observations. for the people who argue this is a law that has already passed him i would like to point out almost a century ago we passed a law for prohibition. it almost destroyed the country before he had enough common sense to turn around and repeal. the same thing is going to happen with obamacare. he second observation is, as far as defaulting on our debt, i hope we do, because if nothing else, it will make foreign countries such as china aware that we can't pay our bills and maybe it might even force congress to live within a budget we can afford, for god's sake.

everybody knows we are spending more money than we have. what are they going to break up and use some common sense? there is none in congress. host: ok, thank you, charles. you mentioned asia. the president was opposed to be at that conference. basically loans from asia account for half of the gross domestic product in terms of the economy. guest: right. the caller made good comments. the debt. we are fighting with this discretionary spending in discussions about balancing budgets. we are ignoring the 52% of federal spending goes to entitlements. if we don't deal with that problem, we are not going to be solvent in the very near future. guest: entitlements are -- guest: medicare, medicaid, and social security. guest: thank you. the most popular programs -- guest: they may be popular, but they are bankrupting us. the fact of the matter is --

guest: the fact of the matter is, we need to talk about the money and the services as money is coming for. that is why we are spending this money. let's be honest. china, they are the ones who are paying for our spending to a large degree. to the extent of people understand globalism and how it works, we are a global society. we tried putting up trade barriers. prices at walmart will go up, and people do not want that either. guest: we have the same debate every single year. and as soon as republicans say we need to get a handle on entitlements spending, democrats respond with demagoguery.

that is why we are at an impasse. guest: where did that come from? a republican president. guest: i'm just saying. you can even talk about reform without being demagogue by democrats. those stairs are the best tactic for getting democrats elected. guest: do you -- republicans are not about to cut medicare or social security. guest: they did before in the paul ryan budget. guest: yeah, but the paul ryan budget was the same cuts in the obama proposal. that is demagoguery. it's a third rail for both sides. we can't dispense with this government sending because the public wants it. host: jamie at the table, clarence page and mona

charen. i thought it would be useful to go back to 1995. i want to share with you two moments. this is december 10, house speaker newt gingrich on the government shutdown back then. >> this is the president's two-page has conference before going off to play golf. this is a real bill, which extends the debt ceiling. this is a real bill, which keeps the united states government open. one of the major problems we have in america, we are present it who does not mind playing. he doesn't mind talking. he seems to hate working. we have been locked in rooms hour after hour, a reconciliation process, which is moving us to a balanced budget, which is doing the right thing for america. this is hard.

this is not just teeing off and having a nice 19th hole with your friends. these are tough decisions that are going to change the lives of our children by balancing the budget, lowering taxes, lowering interest rates, and creating a better america. and they are tough. they take real work and people with the courage to be real leaders. guest: ah, memories. the great thing when the rhetoric was cleared away, we got a balanced budget in the clinton years. and we got rid of that in the bush years with the tax cuts geared to the wealthy. guest: there we go again. cuts for the wealthy. no, actually, they were geared to everyone and when the democrats took over congress, they did nothing to repeal the bush tax cuts for the vast majority of americans. they liked those. the democrats did like those,

because indeed bush did the taxes for everyone who pay taxes. that moniker, tax cuts for the rich, was always false. guest: i don't think so. guest: maybe so, but it's true. host: here is what bill clinton had to say. >> i veto the spending bill sent to me by congress last night because america can never accept under pressure what it would not accept in free and open debate. i strongly believe there budget plan is bad for america. i believe it will undermine opportunity, make it harder for families to do the work they have to do, weaken can our obligations to our parents and our children, and make our country more divided. so, i will continue to fight for the right kind of balance budget. remember, the republicans are following a very explicit strategy, announced last april by speaker

gingrich. to use the threat of government shutdown to force america to accept their cuts in medicare and medicaid, to accept their cuts in education and technology and the environment. yesterday they certainly legislation that said we will only keep the government going, and we will only let it pay for this if and only if we accept their cuts in medicare, their cuts in education, their cuts in the environment. host: mona charen. guest: president clinton did eventually cave and sign a balanced budget which he said many times could not be done. first he said it would take 12 years and six years and five years. he finally found one. they thought this was evidence that the government in washington was getting a handle on this out-of-control spending.

absolute spending continued to rise but as a percentage of gdp it was falling and that was good news for market and the economy boomed. it was a very, very successful negotiation. despite the fact that it looks like what is happening now, its endpoint was very different. we are so far from having a balanced touch it now that, if you know, it is frightening. the smallest increase in interest rates could bankrupt me. host: what would you expect this week? guest: i don't make predictions, but if i'm right, everybody emember. i think it will be more the same but behind those doors, i think discussions are happening. new developments need to be done.

obamacare we will see say president issued this week. host: mona charen? guest: i hope there is a bargain. i hope there is worst rating, because i do not think the government shutdown is a good thing for either side. i do not think the issue of obamacare goes away in the sense that it is the biggest issue in american political life, and it will be for the perceivable future. as a tactical matter, it was not worth trying to defund it now. republicans do not have the votes. the republicans will and should continue to point out the flaws in reforms that are necessary, including a full repeal should a republican be elected in 2016. guest: they will definitely point out all the flaws as time goes on here. guest: you betcha. host: thank you both.

guest: thank you, steve. ncluding 9/11. >> where a lot of people make contributions to demonstrate their knowledge as opposed to advancing the meeting. a lot of leaders violate good management behavior and as they say stop talking about that please, we've heard it before. if you don't have anything new to say, just keep quiet please. we need to keep this over with.

>> what defines a great leader tonight at 9:00 eastern on afterwards. part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. >> also from today's "washington journal" president obama's relationship with congress and world leaders and how it compares with previous residents. host: joining us from austin, texas is author and historian douglas brinkley. we tried to count how many books you have written. what's the latest count? guest: i don't do counts, but i work hard on one at all times and right now i'm writing a book called "rightful heritage." it is about how fdr in the 1930's and 1940's really saved america by combating soil

erosion and planting one billion trees with the civilian conservation corps. host: let me pick up on roosevelt's second term, and some of the problems many people say he had. are there lessons, are there parallels to this president? guest: fdr's second inaugural was the closest to what barack obama's second inaugural was. only presidential scholars study inaugurations, but they're both talking about how to press a progressive agenda forward. fdr was talking about class warfare, how do you help the middle class prosper. barack obama did too. they were promoting civil rights.

n barack obama's case, climate change. fdr was working to rebuild the lead -- land with agriculture. fdr had hubris to try to pack the supreme court. that did not work. he wanted to add new protein deal justices. -- pro-nwe deal -- new deal ustices. get stuff done, use executive power. i was just writing how the day fdr was getting beat up on the supreme court packing, and he had the big crisis of his presidency, signed an executive order.

president obama has used our special forces into somalia, in libya. just letting the public know that the government may be shutdown, but it's not being held hostage. there's all these lessons to learn from the hubris of fdr. in the end, he outfoxed all his adversaries. guest: douglas brinkley is joining us from texas. e is also a contributor to a number of publications, including "the new york times." he also writes for the "los angeles times" book review. i want to share a piece from the "christian science monitor" with you. the piece points out that with no end in sight for the government shutdown, the partisan animosity has gotten

unusually bitter and personal, even for washington. americans are angry as well. on that note, on the partisan nature of this, is it as bad as it is ever been? guest: no. the point of history is to remind us that our own times are not uniquely oppressive. i hear people saying, i can't believe how awful it is. prophets of doom and gloom. our country has been through a lot worse. sacred battlefield sites for the civil war are now shutdown. this is always going to have political feuds. we tend to over romanticized how marvelous it was between tip

o'neill and ronald reagan or newt gingrich and bill clinton. sunday barack obama and congressman boehner will play well together, either a year from now or when they are both out of office. i don't think we want to over magnify and say things are worse now than ever. the tea party movement is unique and it is potent. some people say it is toxic. it's unique in the sense that the shutdown has a different cast to it, but we've had 17 other government shutdowns since gerald ford. most of our listeners can't even remember what was shutdown or what it was about. these things tend to seem big at the time. a decade from now, he won't look quite as big. obamacare is big.

just like social security of fdr, medicare of lyndon johnson, obamacare is now the law of the land. it may be seen as one of the huge progressive achievements of the 21st-century when it is all said and done. host: douglas brinkley's subjects have included a number of former presidents. richard is joining us from missouri on our line for independents. aller: good morning. a couple of days before this shutdown took the news over, obama wanted to send $50 million to syria. -- $50 million to syria -- $15 illion to syria.

host: thank you for calling. just a couple of weeks ago the president was contemplating the use of military force, and his ecision to put it before congress. now it is off the front pages. guest: what looks big today gets forgotten in a few weeks. syria has been a long-term american conundrum. warren christopher, bill clinton's secretary of state, went 27 times to damascus to try to cut a deal over there and could not get a deal. it's a very tough environment to do business. our callers have a natural suspicion of, why do we get involved in a syrian civil war? we have an interest in it because they are right on the border with israel.

you can't have a stockpile of chemical weapons right on the border of our most trusted ally, certainly in the region, anymore than if we had chemical weapons pointed at as in mexico of that degree. there is a link between iran and their desire to have a nuclear weapon. something had to be done in syria. president obama's handling of it was unusual. i don't know if the war college is going to study it as a case study in future years of how to do business, but he got a pretty good result out of it. if we can truly rid syria of chemical weapons and at least give the rebels a chance to eventually overthrow assad, which is more and more unlikely as days go by, at least we did something and stood up for the issue of chemical weapons. it's not enough for some people,

too much for others. the president got it right in syria. host: does this president think about history and his legacy at this moment? guest: he absolutely thinks about history a lot. he reads presidential biography as a hobby. he's a voracious reader. he made his money in life as a writer himself. we have little historian's groups who have met with him. i know how much he admires abraham lincoln. i noticed in recent years an interest in eisenhower, in large part because of the korean war in 1953. president obama sees himself as having to get us out of afghanistan and iraq. eisenhower used covert ctivities to help in our

foreign affairs and you see barack obama using seal teams and drones, something besides ending boots on the ground around the world. eisenhower had to work with our defense budget in the same way the president obama will have to continue with chuck hagel to make cuts. this president is sort of in eisenhower figure when it comes to foreign policy. in domestic policy, he is part of a progressive tradition -- john kennedy, lyndon johnson, bill clinton. he's a man firmly in the center, but wants to try to do the things that help the poor and middle class. host: with reference to the front page story of the "new

york times," the operations led by the navy seals, the fbi and cia involved in libya and somalia as the u.s. uses this operation to take down individual terrorists. guest: that's right. it will be a hallmark of the obama presidency. i was at the george w. bush library in dallas. i would think the killing of sama bin laden is a high water mark of the obama presidency, the most wanted man, the most heinous crime against america of 9/11. obama got him. historians will show that barack obama was vigilant in the world of terror, just as vigilant as george w. bush, but had a different strategy of how to do it using drones and special ops instead of sending in the troops the way president did.

host: you talk about the legacy of franklin roosevelt. this is a tweet from a viewer. how will the president's environmental legacy read? guest: one national park was created under the obama administration. it was a monument, and got upgraded to park status in california. there have been a number of executive orders signed by barack obama creating national monuments. one was for munro in virginia. the san juan islands. he created the first federal park in the state of delaware and harriet tubman -- at.

tubman's -- at harriet tubman's home where she lived. cesar chavez's home and compound in california, where chavez lived. it is less of a ledger of things he has done in that regard. it is trying to educate the country about climate change and how environmental history is living in the age of climate. the president has book -- done bold things, at least rhetorically. just this year in the state of the union address and his second inaugural. his effort to deal with all of the issues related to global warming is very real. you see him striving on something such as the keystone pipeline, but the fact that he has not signed it -- he spoke to georgetown university and made it very difficult to greenlight he keystone by making people

prove it would have no environmental damage when any kind of construction project could have and would have some environmental damage. it is a firewall presidency on the environment, one who sees his job as to educate. would give him a "b" on dealing with environmental issues. he is not a president who gets and "a." host: douglas brinkley is a graduate of georgetown university, ohio state, and has taught at a number of leading institutions around the country including the naval academy, hofstra university, and his former director of the stephen

ambrose eisenhower center for american studies. rose is joining us from connecticut, independent line. caller: i'm 70 years old and my grandfather use to talk to me about fdr. i'd been fascinated throughout the years. thomas dewey, the candidate that ran against fdr, called him a communist. doesn't that sound familiar? fdr took us to victory against itler. he gave us social security, unemployment insurance. there was a great documentary on public tv a few weeks ago. fdr's grandson said that years after he passed away, the republicans and their corporate buddies still hated fdr. host: rose, thanks for the call. guest: much like president obama

is catching so much disdain from the right, so did roosevelt. fdr had the public on his side. he was quite a remarkable man. when you think that he has polio and he's in a wheelchair, and yet we never have evidence of him being downbeat or said. -- sad. what he did in the new deal years alone, how our country was just burnt out and how he spent history understanding the need for water power, how to build the country and get our agriculture sector back alive. he created institutions. it was a ccc camp and he turned t into shangri-la.

the whole idea of wildlife protection and saving is orn. his care for people in need, the middle-class, elderly, sick was intense because he had felt such physical deprivation in the later half of his life. then we get to fdr as commander in chief in world war ii, the great job they did of picking the right people, picking omar bradley and george patton and mark clark and admiral leahy. there's really no president liked fdr. the c-span poll put third behind lincoln and washington. when it comes to knowing how to get things done, fdr is one.

host: from your point of view, was it a mistake for him to seek a fourth term? hy did he decide to do so? uest: i was reading evidence about how much he wanted to go back to hyde park on the hudson. his great love of his life was the river. anyone who spends time around the river knows why. it is absolutely beautiful. he thought he would go back and write mystery novels for fun and continue being a forrester and enjoy life in dutchess county. there was a great fear that if he did not, the republicans would come in. he had become so popular.

to strip them out of that post would have been a political mistake. -- him out of that post would have been a political mistake. fdr was a cartographer. he had maps everywhere. he had really understood the world situation like nobody had. he had built those friendships with world leaders that were so superb. where i get critical of franklin roosevelt is not his handling of things in 1944, but the fact that he did not inform his vice president, harry truman, about the manhattan project and other aspects of our strategic aims in the pacific and europe. it seems to me to be very shortsighted. it shows fdr as an egomaniac in a way, or someone him. oh, that he did not take the time to let his vice president know what was going on. his lasting legacy is the united nations.

the rockefeller family put a lot f money to attract it to new york city. hat is where we try to solve problems in the world, sometimes with success, sometimes not. the u.n. is the long institutional shadow of franklin roosevelt and it is still running today. host: in response to an earlier color, quote, congress had to get past robert taft of ohio. linda is joining us on the democrats' line. caller: hi. we seem to have drifted off the topic of the obama presidency.

to bring it back to the present ituation, i have a long time when historical question to which i do not know the answer -- line historical questions which i do not know the answer. how normal is it for one party to try to undo the legislation of the previous party's administration? guest: it's an interesting question. a key one. i got to edit ronald reagan's white house diaries. there was a passage he wrote when he was angry. he said, i voted for franken roosevelt four times. i want to unravel the great society. a lot of what is going on right now is trying to dismantle things that lyndon johnson did, voting rights, not let medicaid and medicare expand any further into obamacare. i could go on and on. they're trying to roll back the

great society. jimmy carter, nixon -- it was nixon who created the apa -- epa. the epa is something like 98% shutdown. the republican party does not like the epa. nixon did endangered species and lean air, water. the conservative movements want to roll back on growth from the 1960's and 1970's right now. what i find unique about what you are asking right now is that the republicans were trying to use the economy to trash the economy to allow our nation to not only lose status in the world, but lose billions of dollars by shutting down the government to score political points and to show a protest against a law like the ffordable health care act. that is rare. ou would find that kind of

behavior in the dark days before the civil war in the united states. usually people in washington want to get stuff done, so it is unusual when you are electing people who feel their job is to be the monkeywrench gang a capitol hill. there is really the republicans and democrats i think are on the same page, and you just have a group with irreconcilable's with the tea party caucus. i think they will be won over in he coming weeks. everyday the shutdown goes on, more and more damage occurs. let's hope they get this silliness finished this week or next week. host: regardless of where you come down on the political side

of the fence, do you think voters in 2014 will remember what where going through now? guest: voters don't like ongress. they have a 10% favorability rating. you have a country where 90% of the american people agree on one thing, they can't stand congress. these guys have to for reelection every two years. you may be seeing a buildup of the throw the bums out movement. i travel the country far and wide. i was just speaking in idaho. i talked to democrats, independents. i find a lot more unity in the country. the unifying factor, people are sick of the media and is washington politicians. there will be a public backlash

to all of this. that's the only way the american people can show their frustration about what's going on in d.c. host: our next caller is on the republican line. caller: i think there are several similarities between roosevelt and obama right now. i have been a registered republican for over 40 years. i will never vote for one again. we will go back with the world war ii, when roosevelt took over. our country was in a mess. we were almost positive we were going to have to go to war. people at that time did not want to. people don't even think of this. with the new deal, he set up social security. e had unemployment

insurance. he started doing things for the middle class. the republicans objected to everything he did. they called it social experiments. he had the g.i. bill. not even one republican voted for that. roosevelt made a comment that we were sending our men off to war, but when we were bringing them back, we needed to take care of them and we were not. he put the draft in before he was even reelected. that took a lot of guts. he was obstructed for everything he tried to do. this is where the same similarities are with obama right now. host: which republicans have you voted for based on your comments just now? caller: the last republican i voted for was reagan. even regretted that after i

id it. guest: where we look objectively at republican presidents, theodore roosevelt was a republican who did a tremendous job. dwight eisenhower was first rate. george herbert walker bush did very well. gerald ford is greatly admired. george w. bush has been very polarizing. there have been some outstanding republican presidents have done an amazing job for our country. you mentioned the draft. i was thinking about politicians in d.c. today. the problem with a lot of them today is they became lawyers and politicians. it used to be that we honored a man first for service to his country, meaning most of our residents were speakers of the house, senate majority leaders, ad been a general or kernel.

-- colonel. e honored them for their military service to the country, then they became president. how we have people in washington with no military service -- now we have people in washington with no military service. they tend to use washington to line their own pockets. e might have to raise $1.5 billion to want to run for president in 2016. the money and lobbying has gotten so out of control. it is hard as a father of three ids to say, i want you to grow up to be like a politician. i honor scientists, doctors, explorers, teachers. you learn to honor people other than our own politicians, that

s sad. we have slick lawyers who can take either side of an issue. we are not giving people a great character to go into government. what movies have you watched, who have you dated -- we are treating people in government as in human. -- inhuman. it is creating a nest of mediocrity in washington. maybe somebody needs to come out of the military. perhaps a george marshall figure, someone who can split the difference down the middle and get our country moving again instead of clowning around on the right and left, racing to get there mic on to do cable tv appearances instead of locking themselves up in closed rooms and getting the business done of america. that's what we're paying them for. every congressperson is our servant. they serve us. the public has lost track of

hat. the only way we can reclaim our dominance over politicians is going to be -- if we can't limit their terms constitutionally, we certainly can throw them out at the ballot box and gets some new blood in with some new ideas, and get people who want to work in a bipartisan fashion. we've got to get back to be able to cut deals together. congressman weiner -- ted kennedy did no child left behind not so long ago. host: douglas brinkley is joining us from austin, texas. you mentioned past republican presidents. this is from bill. as that the genesis of what we are dealing with today?

guest: you can say that. most people saved the tea party was born out of the affordable health care act of 2009. that is when they started having town hall meeting disruptions while president obama was at martha's vineyard. television was looking for a story, and it kept showing these ea party people. when george w. bush did the bailout in october of 2008, in some ways he abandoned the hard right, the conservative movement who wanted to see government spending cut, not government growth. george w. bush did the right thing in the bailout, the only thing he could have done. i applaud them for it. when you do something like that, there's going to be a reaction. the tea party dislikes george w. bush almost as much as it does

arack obama. host: jeff is joining us from indiana. caller: thank you. this is a great show. i'm happy to be on. mr. brinkley's answer will influence my thoughts greatly. i read an article between 15 and 20 years ago in "usa today" about generations and the differences between generations of americans, and how they handle the affairs of the day. in that article, they compared the boomers to the civil war generation in terms of not being able to get together at critical times to come together on issues and solve problems. what is your thoughts on those type of thoughts or thinking about the boomers, who have been in charge probably for 20 years? that comparison, is it fair or is it to general? -- too general?

guest: it's probably too general, but it's interesting. it's interesting to think about the boomers in general. jack nicholson said recently, i'm the new old. a lot of people who got known in their 20's are now in their 70's. we can start looking at what that generation did or did not do. one thing they did very well was confront the inequality in the u.s. we teach cold war history and teach that there was jim crow ll over the south. lyndon johnson in the civil rights acts. it look at the pushing of the environmental movement -- you look at the pushing of the environmental movement, going

forward with the space program and trying to put science and the government. -- in the government. i can go on for an hour with accomplishments that the baby boomers have done. it has some validity to it. it seems that they don't have that art of negotiation. there is a spoiled nest. -- spoiled-ness. maybe we spoiled our kids. by the time our kids were born, there was the era of dr. spock and parents indulging their children to such an end -- a degree that we had high youth nemployment. people do not want to do the low-wage jobs because they feel entitled to more than a minimum wage job. the question of the parenting of

the boomers is interesting and relevant. part of the boomer experience is the vietnam war. that divided the country. anytime i write on vietnam, i get myself in trouble. you cannot be objective about it. this group of boomers on one side of the equation or the other. that movement seems to never have left america. since neil armstrong went to the moon in 1969, we have not had a moon shot. we have not worked together to do one big thing. i wish our country could find something like that, take on a war on cancer or try to create an alternative to oil, something we could do as a nation together. right now i don't see it happening in the next two years. host: douglas brinkley is an author, presidential historian, and professor.

thanks for a much for being with us. uest: thank you. >> both chambrers of congress are back in session on monday. a number of short term spending bills that fund individual federal agencies and programs remain to be voted on by members. meanwhile the senate returns for speeches before considering a pair of judicial nominations at 5:00 p.m. votes are scheduled at 5:30. >> they are searching for ways to resolve their differences on how and when the federal government should be reopened. live coverage on c-span of the house and the senate on c-span2. >> next, former white house

chief of staff josh bolten is our guest on "q&a." @9:00 p.m., david cameron. ,emarks by christine lagarde the managing director of the imf. >> this week on "q&a" part one of a two-part discussion with josh bolten. he discusses his duties during the george w. bush administration. >> josh bolten, in the epilogue to george w. bush's book, he says -- he greeted me. you were in his office on the last day. he says, he gree